A small nifty thriller making crafty use of New York City locations, Michael Morrissey’s “Boy Wonder” is a gritty directorial debut taking down the superhero genre: what if your protagonist has little more than anger to fuel him? It’s a modest graphic-novel-style conceit, sketched with an economy verging on poverty at times: Sean (Caleb Steinmeyer) is an angry seventeen-year-old who witnessed his mother’s brutal murder, and he’s in the care of an alcoholic father (Bill Sage). After a late-night attack by a drug dealer, Sean’s appetite for vigilantism is stoked. Endangered women? Boy comes to boil. The fight scenes are Morrissey’s strongest work. With James Russo, Tracy Middendorf, Zulay Henao. 96m. (Ray Pride)
“Boy Wonder” opens Friday at River East.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s film critic and a contributing editor to Filmmaker magazine.
His history of Chicago “Ghost Signs” in words and images is in the works. Previews on Twitter (twitter.com/chighostsigns) as well as photography on Instagram: instagram.com/raypride.
Twitter: twitter.com/RayPride.
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